Column: Andrew Ayers begins his minor league baseball career

Few baseball people, including myself, are amazed that Andrew Ayers is in a place like that.

Surprise, Ariz., by the way, is the training home of the Kansas City Royals, who picked Ayers in Saturday's Major League Baseball First-Year Player draft.

It's been a whirlwind week for Ayers.

A few days before the MLB draft, Max Valencia, a Royals Northern California scout, called Ayers to ask if he would sign with the team. On Saturday, Kansas City drafted Ayers as a second baseman -- the first one they selected -- in the 30th round.

Then on Sunday, Ayers drove to Sacramento, where on Monday he met with Valencia to sign a contract.

On Tuesday, Ayers traveled to Surprise, where on Wednesday he started his minor league career -- in 110-degree heat.

"I'm pretty excited about it, it's going be awesome," he said.

Ayers expects to be assigned to the Idaho Falls Chukars in the Pioneer League.

The Chukars -- named after a regional bird -- begin their Pioneer League (an eight-team Rookie Advanced League) schedule on June 20 and play until September 8. They play on natural grass at their home park, Melaleuca Field, which was built in 2007 and holds 3,400.

Even thought Idaho Falls is about 955 miles from Eureka, Ayers hopes to play before at least one family member in that region. His older sister, Jenna -- who got her master's degree and works at Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah -- plans to drive north to see some of his games.

Ayers will be in good company at Idaho Falls. Kansas City is also sending their first-round pick, shortstop Hunter Dozier from Stephen F. Austin University, to play for the Chukars.

Although the Royals have told Ayers he will primarily see action at second base and third base, "I told them I'd play anywhere they wanted," he said.

During his prep days at St. Bernard's High School, Ayers -- a phenomenal football, basketball and baseball player -- was the Humboldt-Del Norte League MVP as a junior and co-MVP as a senior, and helped the Crusaders capture three straight North Coast Section titles.

During the summer of 2010, he was named the Humboldt Crabs' Offensive Player of the Year after hitting .351 with a sublime .476 on-base percentage including 46 hits, 28 walks and just 11 strikeouts in 164 plate appearances.

"It was a great opportunity. I'm glad I did it for those two summers," Ayers said about playing for the Crabs during the summers of 2010 and 2011.

2011 -- that was a low point, physically and emotionally, for the young athlete.

He often felt tired, was losing weight and thirsty all the time, had to frequently urinate, and started having trouble seeing the ball on the diamond.

"It got kind of scary," Ayers told me last year.

Physicians at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka diagnosed Ayers as having diabetes, and he monitored his blood sugar levels four time daily and injected insulin twice daily.

A year later, the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) selected him as its Player of the Year after he batted .340 overall (.427 in league) for Sacramento State, with 21 multiple-hit games.

An opportunity for Ayers to boast?

Nope.

"It shows how hard work finally paid off, but I'm not about individual awards anyway," Ayers told me after he won the honor. "My award is my coaches' and teammates' award, too, because we turned around the program from last to first."

In fact, even as Ayers gets oriented in Surprise, he gives kudos to his college head coach, Humboldt County native Reggie Christensen.

"I was lucky to play for him for four years." said Ayers.

And what about those 10 homers that Ayers belted this season for the Hornets?

"I didn't expect it either," said Ayers. "I was just trying to hit the ball hard in the gap, and I had adjusted my timing."

Now, with his diabetes well under control -- at Ayers' appointment last month the docs told him things look great -- he is in great shape to compete against other gifted baseball players.

Time will tell whether Ayers -- nicknamed Local Legend on the North Coast -- eventually gets to the Big Show.

If he does, he's be following a trail walked by former H-DN players like Dane and Garth Iorg, and John Jaso.

And Ayers does not forget that he benefited from coaching of Greg Shanahan (pitched for the Dodgers) and Buster Pidgeon (minor league outfielder for Phillies), who were his pitching and hitting coaches, respectively, at St. B's, along with wise and blunt head coach Dale Del Grande.

In addition to baseball, Ayers has his sights set on another goal. He is just four classes shy of his marketing degree and plans to graduate from Sac State at the end of the fall semester.

Even if Ayers' baseball career ends in the minors, I believe he will always stand tall, because of his integrity, willingness to work hard and strong family values.